INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Jacob de Vlas is a Dutch biologist with a passion for field biology and photography.
He received his PhD in 1983 from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Since then, he is involved in nature management.
He produced the photographs and drawings for this book.
Johanna de Vlas-De Jong is a librarian.
She organised the excursions in Sri Lanka.
She also undertook the administration of the photographed plants.
Their first visit to Sri Lanka was in 1977.
Both were struck by the hospitality of the people, the wealth of the Sri Lankan history and, last but not least, the beauty and diversity of the Sri Lankan nature.
Successive visits followed.
In 2005 the decision was made to prepare this field guide.

The goal of the authors is to provide a practical guide to the Sri Lankan flowers, with emphasis on herbs and shrubs that can easily be observed along roads and tracks.
More than 1000 different plant species are depicted, and more than 200 related species are shortly described.

The main source of Information for the descriptions was obtained from the recently completed 14 volumes of 'A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon' (Dassanayake and Fosberg).